Practical Action Nepal, a UK-based INGO, is working to improve the livelihood of poor communities, disaster risk reduction and sanitation. The organisation is currently active in four thematic areas: agricultural livelihood, disaster risk reduction, decentralized energy systems and urbanisation. According to Achyut Luitel, South Asia Regional Director of Practical Action, the thematic areas are designed and implemented to achieve goals in food security and livelihood of the farmers through use of appropriate technologies, reducing the vulnerabilities of climate change, to assist scattered communities to fulfill their minimum energy requirements and to reduce urban poverty. “ Practical Action works to strengthen the ability of poor people to use technology to cope with threats from natural disasters, environmental degradation and civil conflict,” says Luitel. 

 

The organization claims that 66,000 people from marginalised and disadvantaged communities of 8 districts benefitted from its Reducing Vulnerability Programme. This programme assisted the target population to secure their food needs with increased crop production and increase in income through improved natural resources management, skills enhancement and access to technologies and resources during the organisation’s strategic period of 2007-2012 Similarly, the disaster reduction programme has enabled  97,000 poor people of 7 hilly and terai districts with strategies to cope with risks fromfloods, landslides and drought along with some impacts of climate change during the period. 

 

The organization’s another major aim is “making markets work for the poor.” To achieve this objective, the organization explores participatory and systemic market development approach  by using  technology for better production and networking skills to engage effectively in fairer markets. Likewise, access to infrastructure services programme includes development in rural energy and transport and sustainable urban environment. 

 

Practical Action has been active in Nepal since 1979. Started as Intermediate Technology, the organisation was mainly involved in micro-hydro sector for about two decades. It diversified its scope of work to other forms of renewable energy, agro-processing technology, rural transport and disaster risk reduction after the establishment of the Nepal country office in 1998.